To pay for new flooring in a rented house that we aren't staying long term in?

[D0oinMeCleanin]

We're planning on staying here roughly another year.

The landlord doesn't want to pay out for laminate flooring because he says he usually has to change the carpets after every other tenant, sometimes a carpet will only last one tenant. He doesn't want to shell out for laminate only to have to change it after I leave/the next tenant leaves. He usually just looks for joblots on cheap carpets. This year he found a rather fetching dog shit brown one, which he did the entire house with, with the exception of the kitchen/bathroom which has a really cheap, stained lino in. He changed the carpet after the tenant before me but not the lino.

I've priced it up and for a low to mid range laminate, plus accessories and fitting it myself it would be a maximum of £350 to do the front and back room in laminate. For midrange vinyl flooring for the kitchen/bathroom it would be in the region of £80.

He's promised not to put the rent up for 2 years if I re carpet/lay laminate, but he doesn't want to pay for it himself, when he's only just put this carpet down (badly I might add, it's not stuck down properly and keeps getting sucked up the hoover, so is tatty and fraying around the edges)

I hate the carpet. I hate having to vacuum three times a day. I hate the colour of it. I spend roughly £7 a week on shake and vac to stop the carpet smelling 'doggy'. It needs washing constantly due to the dogs tracking in mud or the kids spilling things and the shade of dog shit brown it is shows up everything. The carpet shampoo I go through amounts to about £10 per month. I worry about germs, we have a cat who uses a litter box and then walks across the carpet and pet rats who free range in the living room. The kids then sit on the carpet and eat (not off the carpet, but they're still touching the carpet and then their popcorn/crisps etc)

I feel silly paying out £400 on a house that is not mine and that I'm not staying in but it would make my life so much easier.

[ovaltine]

If he got laminate flooring he wouldn't need to change for a new tenant!!

[Rnb]

In that situation I would

[Frogme]

You buy clothes you won't be wearing forever. You go on holiday and then thats it. I'd haggle with the landlord and try to get him to contribute some - the kitchen at least will be changed next tenant - then suck up the cost myself if it would please me and make my life easier.

No brainer if you can afford it.

[Funkytown]

if you want to do it then go ahead
sounds like you've pretty much made you mind up on it and if you can spare the money and it will make your life easier then why not

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I told him that ovaltine, but he mentioned people marking it with their shoes or scratching it with furniture.

He said the lack of respect people have for someone elses property has astounded him since he got into property. He did at one point think about stopping renting to people with pets or benefits tenants but he didn't want the minority making things harder for the majority, so he started just buying cheap carpets/worktops etc instead.

[redthefraggle]

I think if you can afford it and are that unhappy with it, you should pay. Yes, you'll be leaving it behind when you move but I think you need to factor in how unhappy it's already making you, how much time and effort you're spending on it and weigh up whether you think it's worth it. From your post you seems to be spending about £38 per month on cleaning products anyway so in a year you would cover the expenditure.

I'm confused as to whether you're planning to stay one year or two? As for the no rent increase, I'd want that in writing.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I'm staying approximately 1 year, but haven't told the landlord that we'll moving on. We're applying for council housing and I've been advised it will take around a year to save enough "points" to bid on suitable properties in our current situation.

He offered 2 years no rent increase, being unaware that we wouldn't be staying that long.

[SpottyDogg]

I bought a new carpet for our lounge, the fitted one was real light coloured, cheap and shit basically. The money was worth having a decent room we could invite people into even though we are hoping to move next year.

[ovaltine]

Tbh no one really cares about scratched laminate flooring. Once it's down it's down! Just gets marked on the inventory. He's causing himself more hassle really.

No rent increase is nice but its not as if he can up it massively anyway?

If you have the money then do it; just take it with you when you move out if he's gonna get rid of it anyway

[ilovehotsauce]

This makes me sound awful

But I would just pay for the flooring with the view of not paying the last months rent.

If you have lots of pets and children what's the likely hood of getting your deposit back any way?

[Bumbiscuits]

Could you store the shit carpet and sell the laminate when you're done?

The landlord might even purchase the laminate from you.

[formerbabe]

I spend roughly £7 a week on shake and vac to stop the carpet smelling 'doggy'. It needs washing constantly due to the dogs tracking in mud or the kids spilling things and the shade of dog shit brown it is shows up everything

You can hardly blame the landlord for the fact you have dogs! I think the laminate would be a waste of money if you are leaving in a year.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I don't blame the landlord I never said I did.

I was just outlining how/Why laminate would be easier for me.

[SanityClause]

You will spend the best part of £400 on shake and vac of you don't have the floor done, so you might as well do it.

Also, if it takes "about a year" for you to be eligible for council housing, this could actually be a bit longer than that.

It sounds like your quality of life will improve quite a lot by getting rid of the dreary carpet.

So, if you can afford it, do it.

[Poolomoomon]

The landlord really should invest in laminate flooring thoughout. It's really difficult to damage laminate IMO. Yes you can scratch it with furniture but it's not the end of the world and if you choose the right colour will hardly be noticeable. It would save him so much money in the long run as well, not having to replace the carpets every couple of years with each tenant! It's almost impossible to damage it to a point beyond repair I would have thought. It's easier to clean and just looks cleaner as well... He's a fool. Also if any laminate was severely damaged he could take the money from the deposit to fix it.

I don't know if I'd bother spending the money if I was only planning on staying for a year though. Depends how much money I had going spare really... It's a fair amount of money to spend for the sake of a year really. The dog smell will always be there regardless.

[SaucyJack]

If you want it, and are prepared to pay for it then I don't see what the question is tbh.

Much as I despise landlords who allow their properties to fall into disrepair and expect the tenants to pay to do them up, it isn't the case here.

He put down new carpets. If you want to change them for what will be entirely your benefit, then that's your call,

[KnackeredMuchly]

I wouldn't get laminate. We bought a mid range one from Wickes (so not mid range when you consider premium brands etc - just an idea)

It was an arse to lay and in spite of getting one suitable for the kitchen it did get water damage, occasional dings where we dropped something heavy. Just can't see the expense of it when it has such a short lifespan.

Not that I hate laminate, we've moved into a new house, we're fairly sure they have some kind of engineered flooring here and had 2 sets of tennants and it's in beautiful condition still. When it eventually goes, we will rip it up, find out what it is and put exactly the same down again.

Sorry - a long winded way of saying to get Lino. My friend has some all over her downstairs in a dark walnut wood effect which looks good. As it's only temporary and more for practical reasons than aesthetic I would put lino down. As said, there are a lot of things we spend money on that are short lived.

Think your landlord sounds really nice replacing carpets so often, although I get they're rubbish! Still relatively sanitary.

[Number3cometome]

I get lino for the floor. It's much cheaper and you can put the old carpet back over it - job done!

[Thisishowyoudisappear]

Are you in a house or a flat ? If you have anyone below you don't get laminate. It can also affect noise travelling sideways. YANBU for getting new flooring though.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

I'm in a terraced house, the underlay I priced up was a noise reducing, foam underlay.

The landlord is nice and he does leave his properties (or at least this one) in a decent state of repair, although he does things arse first imo, nothing seems to be fitted properly or any kind of decent quality, which means they are easier to damage. The worktop just slides off of the top of the cupboards (he changes the worktop every few tenants, when it starts getting too badly scratched, he offered to change this one after his plumber damaged it when they were fitting a new boiler but there was no need, the damage is under where I keep the microwave anyway)

Still, it's up to him if he wants to use cheaper stuff and change it more often the house was clean and everything is in a decent state, even if it is not to my taste. I can't really complain about him.

We could be here over a year. I'm not in a rush to leave, the landlord is decent, the neighbours are nice enough. I'm not in a place where I need to take the next available property and hope for the best. I intend on staying here until somewhere decent comes up, so it could well be over a year from now.

[TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams]

I recently laid lino in my kitchen. I was really surprised at the quality of what is now available [wood effect etc etc]. Personally because of the noise of laminate and hassle to lay it, I'd spend a bit more on lino for the whole place and lay a rug on top in the living room. No hassle then with specialist products to clean it etc etc. You could run a steam mop over the whole thing.

Also lots of on line places will send you up to 5 free samples and it is warmer underfoot.

Sounds like the landlord will be due to replace the living room flooring when you leave anyway so he'll be up on the kitchen floor.

I'd replace it. Good value for the hassle of it right now.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

He'll be due to replace the kitchen floor and worktop but he has lino in his garage so wouldn't buy new. The lino he has is white and he will come and do the kitchen floor with it if I want him to, he told me he wouldn't change the carpets, as they are now, he'd just get someone to come and re-lay it where it's come loose, which he will do now if it bothers me.

If he sees cheap carpet/lino he buys all of it and stores it in his garage until he needs it. Ditto worktops. He's told me he has plenty more dog shit brown carpet if the tattiness is bothering me that much, atm that's the only colour he has, he bought reams and reams of the stuff after finding for roughly £1 per sqm if you bought in bulk, so he did

I think I've made my mind up and will be getting laminate fitted after x-mas. I really hate the carpet and will be saving on the shake n vac/carpet shampoo side of things, not to mention time and effort. When I've lived with dogs in laminated floor houses before I've never noticed the doggy smell. I'm sure people without dogs would be able to but it wasn't as strong as it with the carpets and sweeping and mopping is much easier than battling with hoovers (which break, mops do not get clogged up and need new filters)

Now it's just picking a shade. I really like the light greys/whites and since I'm paying for it I can do what I want (LL's words, if he feels my choice of colour will effect him re-letting he'll just offer to cover it with more joblot carpet) or should I be fair and get a more universally liked wood colour?

[EbwyIsUpTheDuff]

get him to have the carpet fixed down again, then lay laminate on top of it? that way you can take it with you/sell it on when you leave without having to re-carpet.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Can you lay laminate down over carpet?

I wouldn't be bothered about taking it with me. I'm hoping we'll find somewhere to settle long term, so would be looking to save for engineered wood flooring rather than laminate, although selling it back to the LL could be an option.

[UmizoomiThis]

If you're waiting for council housing, you've been given an estimated time frame. It could take less, or it could take more time. So you might end up being in your current place for two years - you never know.